Magento 2.4 Features
The new version of Magento open-source and commerce is here and with some exciting new things and improvements. This new release has all the previous Magento 2.3.6-p1 and Magento 2.4.2 code and 30 security enhancements. The new version also introduces support for PHP 7.4, MySQL 8.0, and Elasticsearch 7.6.x.
Below are some reasons and important features of Magento 2.4:
1. Security Enhancements
This release has more than 30 security fixes and platform security improvements. Some of those are:
- Two-factor authentication is enabled by default from the admin end, and it cannot be disabled. Admin must configure 2FA to log into the admin.
- Template filter strict mode is enabled by default. Easy for the developers when coding email templates.
- Data rendering for UI data providers is now disabled by default. This will prevent malicious users from executing arbitrary JavaScript which ensures that the store is secure.
- Content security policy improvements
2. Platform Upgrades
- Magento 2.4 supports only PHP 7.4. PHP 7.1 & PHP 7.2 are deprecated. This enhances the core strength of the platform. All the benefits of PHP 7.4 are in Magento 2.4.
- Elasticsearch 7.6.x is the default catalog search engine for both Magento commerce and open-source which has a robust search feature. Magento 2.4 cannot be installed without also installing Elastic Search 7.6.x. MySQL search engine has been removed completely.
- Support for MySQL 8.0. Although MySQL 5.7 is supported also by Magento 2.4. It is recommended to migrate to MySQL 8.0 for improved performance, security, and reliability.
- Support for Maria DB 10.4. Maria DB 10.0 and 10.1 are no longer supported. It is recommended to upgrade to Maria DB 10.4 if you are running on Maria DB 10.2.
- Migration of dependencies on the Zend Framework to Laminas Project
- Signifyd fraud core integration is removed. However, Signifyd users can download the extension from the marketplace for free.
3. Infrastructure Improvements
- Core Integration of third-party payment methods is removed that includes Authorize.Net, Braintree, eWay, CyberSource, and Worldpay payment methods. Merchants should migrate to official Marketplace extensions.
- Support for partial word search for default Elasticsearch. Easier for the user to search with any part of the word.
- PayPal JavaScript SDK is upgraded.
- Web Setup Wizard is deprecated and removed.
- Composer update plugin.
4. Performance Improvements
- Improvements to customer data section invalidation logic.
- Multiple optimizations to Redis performance.
a. Decrease in the size of network data transfers between Redis and Magento.
b. Reduction in Redis’ consumption of CPU cycles by improving the adapter’s ability to automatically determine what needs to be loaded.
c. Reduction in race conditions on Redis write operations.
d. Redis interruption is handled better, and logs are created in the exception log.
- Caching of results of SQL queries to inventory tables is improved. Instead of 16 Queries it is now 1 Query.
- 25% to 30% improvement in quick add-to-cart performance.
- Images can be loaded using Lazy load. This will ensure that offscreen images are loaded when the view is reached. This improves page load times.
5. New Media Gallery
Administrators can now search, filter, and sort images 30x faster than the earlier version. UI is improved and integrated with Adobe Stock.
6. Inventory Management
Support for in-store pickup and bundle products supports multi-store mode. numerous bug fixes
7. GraphQL
Enhanced support of the pickup location queries and includes inventory in-store pickup. This will enhance the technical ability of a business.
8. PWA
Magento 2.4 now supports PWA Studio 6.0.0 and 6.0.1s.
9. Fixed Issues
- Website can be removed along with website-related configuration.
- Configuration settings disabled in index.php are no longer editable from Admin.
- When store configuration is created in config.php then stores can be created without any issue.
- Data scripts are run only once when the setup upgrade command is run.
- It is always recommended that we should have the Magento version up to date to make eCommerce sites secured, run faster, and keep them bug-free.
Furthermore, Two-Factor Authentication is introduced in the latest version which boosts security. The Commerce edition boasts New Order Approval flow as a B2B enhancement.
In addition to that, payment methods such as Authorise.Net and Braintree are removed in this Magento version for Open Source. For Commerce edition, eWay, CyberSource, and Worldpay are removed from the Magento core. However, if merchants want to use these payment options, they will need to install the official extensions available on Magento Marketplace. Check out our Authorize.NET CIM module in the Magento Marketplace.
Along with core quality and security fixes, this latest Magento version has also fixed 226+ GitHub issues. Requests from the Magento community are pulled off in this version such as improvements in GraphQL and Inventory management to small core code clean up.
So all the Magento merchants, upgrading your latest Magento site to Magento 2.4.x is the must thing if you want to enjoy all the benefits it has to offer.
Now that we have seen the benefits, we will quickly see a step-by-step guide to upgrade your existing Magento setup -
Step 1) Create backup of root composer.json file by run below:
cp composer.json composer.json.bak
Step 2) Install the Composer update plugin into current version (Old version like 2.2.4)
composer require magento/composer-root-update-plugin=~1.0 — no-update
Step 3) Update the composer by following:
composer update
Step 4) Add or remove specific packages based on your needs. For example, if you are upgrading from Magento Open Source to Magento Commerce, remove the Magento Opensource package.
composer remove magento/product-community-edition — no-update
Step 5) Update php version 7.3 or 7.4
Step 6) Update mysql version 5.7 or 8
Step 7) Install elastic search on server (Ignore If already installed)
https://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.4/install-gde/prereq/elasticsearch.html
Step 1) Upgrade magento version by run below:
composer require magento/product-community-edition=2.4.0 — no-update
Step 2) update the composer by following:
composer update
Step 3) Run Setup upgrade:
Php bin/magento setup:upgrade
Step 4) Run deploy command:
Php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f
At Ameex, we can help you upgrade your Magento store version to the latest 2.4.2 thereby drastically improving your customer experience, frontend, backend performance, and security. If you are running one of the outdated versions of Magento — until 2.2, we highly recommend that you upgrade to the latest version 2.4.2. and start seeing the benefits.
